Optical properties of the water column along the continental margin of the North Eastern Black Sea

A series of 52 casts along the continental margin of the northeastern Black Sea provided new data on the distribution of the optical properties and suspended matter in the water column, in relation to the dynamics and the biogeochemical processes occurring at the oxic/anoxic interface. Special attention was paid to the trend of the optical properties in the deep water, which shows the existence of two water masses separated by a thermally homogeneous layer, which apparently extend over the whole basin.